What are your thoughts on bullying? Have you ever been a victim of bullying?

Question

i read an article about a 13 year old boy who died on Tuesday from injuries sustained while fighting off school bullies. The mother of the boy is angry with how teachers handled the abuse and claimed that if the school took bullying more seriously her son would still be alive today.
http://ewn.co.za/2017/09/21/my-son-would-still-be-alive-if-school-had-taken-bullying-seriously

so I was wondering what your thoughts on the topic is... Have you been bullied? Have you bullied? How did the bullying make you feel? Did the school do enough?

Being_a_good_Indian · Accepted Answer

"Strong people stand up for themselves. Stronger people stand up for other people." Become an upstander and don't let bullying continue. I was never bullied throughout my life, but I have seen it, and I also know what victims are going through (thoughts of suicide, dropping grades). Bullying is a virus to our future, and it needs to be healed in order to have a bright future. Stay strong no matter what comes to you, because when in doubt, just know you will have a way out.

Six simple solutions:

If you are being bullied: tell them to stop, get away from the situation, and tell a trusted adult.

If you see someone being bullied, be an upstander: Tell the person to stop, get a trusted adult, reach out and be friends.
With your children: Listen and support your children. Work with the school to be sure your child is safe.

In Your School: Learn and help train all adults and youth on how to recognize and respond to bullying.

With Others Who Care: Start a Not In Our School Anti-bullying Club where youth lead in finding solutions.

In Your School and the Entire Community: Create an identity-safe climate where all people are respected

Hope it helps.

Arbalest · Accepted Answer

"Toughen up" is a common phrase. People think we need bullies or else people will be pussies. By that logic it seems I should feel bad for kids that never get bullied. That rich kid whose parents teach them everything they need to succeed in life, whose popular and good looking, plays sports and all that. Those kids are just big pussies!

No, in reality psychological trauma hurts people and delays their development as productive members of society. A person being taught the fundamentals of hard work and self confidence and all the things needed to succeed is dependant in their upbringing and their status in society, not whether they were bullied or not. The toughen up thing is a load of bullshit.

butterbiscuits · Accepted Answer

It's stupid how big bullying is these days. Physical bullying is not ok and is, I feel, the bigger issue here. Teachers should know how to break up fights and sense hostility between the students.
As for psychological bullying... it's only an issue because kids these days have much lower self esteem than children before them because of new trends, and their irrational desire to be like adults in all aspects. When I was a kid, very few people even spoke of suicide. It was still a very... distant idea. Now, kids think about taking their own lives because someone said something mean to them. They don't understand that their life isn't defined by the time they spend in the cafeteria or in PE. There's so much more and they're burying themselfs further and further into their own little worlds, making them that much more fragile when someone pops that bubble.

CubsterShura · Accepted Answer

It highly affected my sociability and I have great struggles today. Bullying is not fun, especially when I've had cases like:

1) 5-10 girls beating me up in the field where everyone saw it.
2) Called bad names by my ENTIRE CLASS so badly I was crying and it happened in front of the teacher and he could do nothing.
3) A bully's family turning up to be real criminals, appearing with weapons in front of our house and starting a riot.

zee_13 · Accepted Answer

i have been a victim of bullying at school and it's the worst thing ever. I was around 5-6 years old, one day i cut all my hair so that the bullies can't recognize me but they did and they beat me even more. those years affects me on the long term.
They didn't stop until i beated them in return. I think that Schools should pay a minimum of attention to this subject and educate their students.

Fitness-Fanatic · Accepted Answer

I despise bullies. I've always been too feisty and fiery to be targeted by bullies.

When I was at school, I got into a few fights with bullies. I'd defend vulnerable weak kids . I'd fight bigger older kids if it meant defending kids who couldn't fend for themselves

Jarvis2003 · Answer

Personally, I've probably done all 3. I've definitely seen people get bullied, as a highschooler it's actually not as common as stereotypes suggest (*cough* 13 reasons why *cough*). But it does happen time to time, and usually it isn't a single bully, rather multiple people that don't do much. It's usually name-calling and never gets too physical maybe a punch or two, but a teacher stops it, or sometimes they'll stop by themselves. I've definitely bullied people, and those who said they haven't are probably lying. I've definitely called people things I shouldn't have, it never gotten physical though. But those I have bullied never held a grudge and are probably some of my closest friends. There may be 1 or two that actually took it to heart, but I never meant it to. And the last being a victim, is probably the most controversial and I have to say I probably have, but never realized it. In 6th grade there were a few 8th graders that bullied me on the bus daily, but I could consider 2/3 legitimate friends. The other was a straight up b****. But I never took those to heart. Anyways, just my two cents...

Peachman · Answer

I have been bullied
Technically I have bullied my bully (retaliation)
In primary school it made me depressed, at one point suicidal, lost, helpless and lonely
The school didn't do shit in primary school eg when they threw rocks at me once they didn't do anything just told them not to do it again
In high school it made me angry, contributed to my depression, made me question my friendships and brought up parts of me I wish I didn't exist
The school dosent know about it much as its mostly verbal they can't do much since it would be easy for the bully to pin it on me

demonics · Answer

So long as only the bullies get shot, and the culpable administrators, I don't have a problem with school shootings.

You write a policy against violence and then throw SELF DEFENSE under that same umbrella which is punishable by expulsion, the administration does nothing to rectify the situation when you go through the proper channels, what recourse does that leave a person? Doing nothing, Fighting back and getting expelled, going to another school (which, thanks to racial politics might not be an option), or moving to another city as a whole. When this whole issue could be solved by the people in charge, or the people who raised that piece of shit kid in the first place.

MarkRet · Answer

I used to get bullied a lot in middle school, and also somewhat in high school. I was skinnier and smaller than the other boys, so even if I tried to fight back, I would lose. Girls were also bullies, in their own way. Some popular girl would approach me (usually with her posse of girlfriends), and taunt me with, "Oh, you're so cute! I wanna go with you!", which I knew was bullshit, because her friends would then laugh their asses off. I've down a lot of growing up since then, and even though I don't encounter those kind of jerks anymore, I'll smack down that kind of shit if anybody tries it with me.

AlexBlack007 · Answer

Wasn't very harsh but yeah, I've been a victim. But I managed like Tyrion Lannister always does. Battle of wits you see... I was never a big or muscular kid, hell I used to tear up if somehow I got into a fight. I hate violence. The thing that saved me is the fact that I had made some powerful friends, friends that my bullies were afraid of. I'm a quiet guy, very observant, so I can usually read people very well which helped me stay 2 steps ahead of my bullies.

Really sorry for the mother who lost her 13 year old child. Nothing could be worse for a parent. Losing someone to such cruelty must be so hard, I can't even imagine...

DesiBeautyLover · Answer

Yeah, I was bullied a lot in elementary school and middle school. I would often get into fights with other boys. I snitched on a bully once and he was apologizing to me in the office, than during summer school he told a kid, if I annoy him to let him know and he'll beat me up like he did in 6th grade. He took my order at Taco Bell one time. The worst was when I would be bullied by girls and they would try to get me and friends in trouble for shit I didn't do. Or when people were bullying me and I was trying to defend myself, and girls were jumping in to protect the bullies because they didn't believe me that THEY started it. But the worst was when I was stalked and cyber bullied by my ex and her family and friends. I was paranoid for like a year and was scared of random people, because I felt they were all out to get me. I HATE bullies.

KhabibNurgomedov · Answer

I have always been bullied up until I left college and started work its not cool not nice I dont condone it I despise it distaste it I have also watched people been bullied and helped them out I got it from preppy twats chavs faggots the list goes on what does help is when you go to a special school and try to fit in you even get their which is rather sad because people have always instigated fights with me laughed at me behind my back I remembered kicking their heads in because of it

Ionatan · Answer

I am and was a very large, angry nerd, so usually I was bullied ONCE when I was young.

Later on, I simply took the abuse and walked away. That scared people even more.

Rejection in any form is hurtful, and even today I feel like most people dislike me. I have never felt accepted, and being bullied certainly did not help.

Mynameisbobby · Answer

I was bullied by my mother and sister then in junior high i was bullied by girls girls all the time. They were always touching me and when I told the principal he just laughed at me. My shirts were too small for me so they put their hands all over my stomach. or pulling me by my shirt i had a girlfriend that I thought liked me one day after school she said she would walk me home she unbuttoned my shirt and grabbed me by the front of my shirt and said come on doggy. I told her to stop and she said don't you want to be my little doggy. I put my jacket on one time and my shirt rode up my belly and this girl touched my bellybutton if I did that I would be in trouble.

WhatChuLookinAt · Answer

Alright bullying is not a good thing and I don't support that, however I used to bully everyone when I was a kid, because I was raised like that by my dad. He knew '' I'll be the one who will be bullied, If I don't be a bully'' so he turned me into a bully. Because there are always rivalry especially between little boys from age 8 to 15-16, they compete with eachother, try to be respected among their friends and chicks around so they try to show theirselves ''stronger'' toward these people. If you ask me it comes ''natural'' and I don't support stopping it, I want everyone to know about handling theirselves, I want them to be brave.

TriTree · Answer

I've been bullied. I've witnessed it. I may have even done it myself with teasing here and there when younger. It's going to happen always and won't stop. Is it good, not in the slightest but that's just childish shit and at times it doesn't stop when we've grown. It can stir up in many ways, bullying. To combat it is different for everyone, but should be recognized. People have lost their sense of being, lives to it and it should be looked at more closely in schools. Some would argue its a way to get thick skin. I learn how to defend myself after I was bullied. I put that anger onto something productive. Maybe something similar can happen for others. Id like to think so.

mattmanyah · Answer

I've been on both sides of it. I think it's something that should be punished but I don't think it should be a legal matter. hurt people hurt people. punishing a hurt person because he hurts someone else is just going to cause more pain at the he's not going to know how to deal with.

TheDamnYankeeLad · Answer

As a person who was beaten, bullied and picked on for four years, I think I have the right to say that we take too strong a stance on it. The school is not the NSA; they can't know about every case and every individual and even if they did, they could possibly stop some of these kids. Bullying is just a part of school. Get used to it. You grow a thick skin and you hold your head up and you fight like hell when cornered.

Naklin · Answer

I used to get bullied a lot, the school didn't do shit, and I eventually decided I wasn't gonna put up with it anymore, so now I don't let anyone push me around.

kenjaminSlutton716 · Answer

people always have talked shit about me do i care no i keep chasing goals while they go home to there lame lives and fuck their fat wives lol if your not being hated on your doing something wrong

tartaarsaus · Answer

I have not been a victim of bullying or have seen anybody else really experience bullying as far as I know.

What I tend to not agree with is the premise that it happens because of insecurity. I think it's down to the fact are social humans and therefore have a hierarchy. To be on the top, to be the dominant one or the Alfa one has to establish dominance over the lower ones hence bullying.

Rockmantis · Answer

Bullies have too much self-esteem. They think they can get away with anything. They pick on people to maintain their high status for fear of losing it. You must stand up to bullies to change anything.

Rojaasu · Answer

I've been both a bully and a victim of bullying and due to that i can say bullying isn't done to directly make yourself feel better its to make others feel the same pain you feel every day so you dont feel alone

Uncut · Answer

Bullying is terrible and people should step in when they witness this.

iron_altar · Answer

I've been bullied, I've been the bully, it builds character. people need to toughen the fuck up!

What are your thoughts on bullying? Have you ever been a victim of bullying?

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